


The Mediator

by supercalvin



Series: 13 Nights of Halloween [5]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2014-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-22 08:49:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2501771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercalvin/pseuds/supercalvin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their friends go to a haunted hospital in the middle of the night. Merlin’s been acting weird all night and Arthur’s slowly starting to figure it out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mediator

“Merlin?”

“Sh!”

Merlin’s eyes were flickering down the hallway and back again. It wasn’t the kind of looking of someone who didn’t know what to do. No. It was the kind of looking around of someone who knew exactly where to look and what to look for.

“Merlin.” Arthur growled again from behind his friend. Merlin’s eyes were still down the hallway as his hand raised to cover Arthur’s mouth.

Like a bunch of idiots in a horror film, their friends had decided to go to the abandoned hospital, which was rumored to be haunted. Arthur had thought it would be a good time: tell scary stories, mess around with friends, and maybe have a valid excuse to be just _a little bit too close_ to Merlin as they walked down the small corridors.

At first, Merlin said he didn’t want to go at all. He had only agreed when Arthur said it would be no fun without him. But Merlin had been jumpy the entire night.  Arthur had thought Merlin was actually scared of the supposedly haunted place and he was only a little bit ashamed to admit that he was excited to stand in as the hero: ‘Don’t worry Merlin, I’ll save you from the scary ghosts!’

But the tables turned once the clock struck one o’clock. Arthur would have thought it would have been at midnight, but apparently ghosts didn’t watch bad horror films. Screaming had been heard down one corridor, squeaky wheels down another. They all felt a cold chill pass through the hospital which had nothing to do with the late hour and the October air. Gwaine felt scratches down his arm, and when someone shined a flashlight on his skin, it was red with finger marks. Arthur was beginning to think the rumors about the hospital were actually true, and that Merlin had known all along.

As soon as everyone figured out that the rumors were more than just talk, Arthur had been watching Merlin more closely and could see that he wasn’t scared or jumpy. He was _aware_.

“Merlin, you can see them, can’t you?” Arthur finally asked what he had been thinking ever since Merlin dragged him into a safe corridor. They had been cut off from the others, and Arthur had no idea how Merlin had known this corridor was safe and not the one perpendicular to it.

Merlin finally looked back at Arthur. He looked more scared by Arthur’s question than by the ghosts which were apparently roaming around.

“It’s why you kept jumping like you’re surprised. You can see them and we can’t.” Arthur asked, knowing it was true as soon as Merlin’s eyes cast down.

“There’s so many of them.” Merlin confirmed as he looked back down the hallway. “Most of them aren’t malicious. They just roam around. Unable to move on.”

“Has this happened before?” At first, Arthur had thought that Merlin might have just been the only one out of the group with the ability to see the ghosts, but now he was wondering if this was an everyday occurrence.

When Merlin looked back at him, the glance said that Arthur had no clue what Merlin had seen.

A scream ripped through the corridor and both of them flinched and covered their ears.

“Damn. You guys couldn’t have picked a fake haunted place, could you?” Merlin lamented as soon as the screaming stopped.

“We didn’t know!” Arthur hissed back.

“Of course not.” Merlin rolled his eyes and grabbed Arthur’s hand, leading him down the next hall. Arthur watched in amazement as Merlin held his hand, and on the inside he was blushing furiously.

“You know how to perform an exorcism.” Arthur gapped.

“Well how else was I going to get rid of the ghosts trying to kill me?” Merlin deadpanned.

Arthur had to admit that he never had this problem before, and after Merlin said that he had been able to see ghosts since he was little, Arthur was going to bet Merlin was more experienced.

So Arthur shut up and let Merlin scratch the pentagram into the corridor where they had heard the screaming. According to Merlin that was where the spirit who had hurt Gwaine had been and was probably not going to rest until all of them were injured or worse. She would appear in this spot and scream every couple of minutes. They were never sure when she would come back and the longer it took, the more anxious Arthur became.

“This is where you go on those nights when I ask if you want to come over and you say you’re busy, isn’t it?”

Merlin stopped for a moment and huffed before going back to the star shape. “It’s not all Hellfire and Brimstone. Most of its research: finding out how someone died, what unattended business they left in this life that’s keeping them here, or simply telling them it’s time to move on.”

Merlin wiped his hands on his jeans as he studied the star he had carved with the knife he had in his pocket (something that Arthur hadn’t known he had carried around until now). “One time it was an old lady who needed to make sure her cat had a good home.”

“That’s where Aithusa came from?” Arthur asked uncertainly. Merlin shrugged as if it were normal.

“You make sure souls go to the other side?” Arthur asked, using the words Merlin had used when he had explained the whole thing to him. A mediator was what he had called it.

“Someone has to help the dead.” Merlin shrugged. “And someone has to protect the living from the dead.” He looked up at Arthur as if he wasn’t sure if he should continue, but ploughed on anyways. “There was a ghost in your house once.”

That would explain why Merlin showed up on a random Wednesday night and asked if he could sleep over. He said he needed help to study, as if Merlin needed any help. Arthur had always thought it was strange that the house seemed oddly quiet after that night. Like the stairs had stopped creaking and the walls had stopped cracking. A shiver ran up his spine at the thought of a ghost in his house without him even realizing it.

Arthur was starting to feel like Merlin was the hero in this scenario.

That’s when Merlin jumped back in surprise and Arthur heard a high pitched wail that was far too close to his ears. Merlin recoiled as if he had been struck by something but Arthur still couldn’t see the ghost. He could see scratches on Merlin’s cheek from where the thing had hit him, blood crawling down his cheek. Merlin was shouting words, but Arthur couldn’t hear them above the scream.

That’s when she materialized in front of Arthur’s eyes. A beautiful woman was floating above the ground, her eyes red and her lips open in a terrible scream. Merlin was shouting back at her, his words lost in the sound. Arthur hadn’t believed it to be possible, but her screaming became louder. A bright flash and then Arthur’s ears were ringing from the silence. The last thing he had heard was the final words of Merlin’s prayer and a gasp of breath. Merlin was panting and there was blood on his cheek, but he was smiling at Arthur as if he had just come out of class with a good grade on an exam.

“Are you okay?” Merlin asked with concern across his features, despite the fact that he was the one with lacerations on his cheek.

Arthur lunged forward, wrapping Merlin up in a hug, even lifting him off the ground a little bit. Merlin’s arms flailed a bit in surprise before his arms rested on Arthur’s shoulders, laughing as he did so.

“Scaredy-cat.” Merlin teased.

“Fuck off. I’m appreciating you’re badass skills at exorcising ghosts.” Reluctantly Arthur let go, but it was alright because he got to see Merlin’s pleased grin before he let go entirely.

Arthur had to admit that Merlin was definitely the hero in this scenario. He’d just kicked an evil spirit back to Hell (or wherever they went) and made it look easy. Arthur was perfectly fine with being the one who was saved if he got to see Merlin’s kick ghost-ass and then see his accomplished smile afterward. The hug was a nice bonus too.

“Next time this happens,” Arthur said, “I’m coming to help. No excuses.”

Merlin’s smile told him that he didn’t mind in the slightest if Arthur started tagging along.

**Author's Note:**

> [The Mediator](http://www.megcabot.com/mediator) by Meg Cabot was my favorite series in middle school and I felt the need to make Merlin a mediator between this world and the next.


End file.
